DRUNKEN PRISONER'S PROTEST WAS EYE-OPENER FOR DISPATCHER

Prisoners drying out from a weekend drinking spree are frequently found in West Jordan's three-cell jail on Sundays, but their stay is occasionally more sobering for the dispatchers.

Such was the case when a 27-year-old Murray man exposed himself in view of a video camera used to monitor the cell.The lone dispatcher on duty was keeping an eye on three prisoners via a closed-circuit camera and speaker system when the man began swearing and pounding his fists on the cell door.

When the dispatcher asked him over the speaker system to quiet down, the man jumped up on the cell cot. "If you want something to stare at, stare at this," the man yelled before exposing himself in view of the camera, the dispatcher said.

"This is the unusual type of prisoner," the dispatcher said. "We only get one of these every now and then."

In August, a disorderly prisoner battered the cell door so badly officers had to pry it open to get the man out.

"This guy either wasn't as strong or didn't persist as long," the dispatcher said of the Sunday event. The man did manage to keep the other two prisoners awake until he quieted down about 9 a.m., two hours before he was released on bail.

The man has yet to be arraigned on charges of intoxication, disorderly conduct, resisting a law enforcement officer - and lewdness, a city justice court clerk said Wednesday.